


Cookie Therapy

by tellthenight



Series: Christmas 2015 [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Baking, Christmas, Christmas Cookies, Cookies, Destiel - Freeform, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Established Relationship, Kid!Fic, M/M, Married Castiel/Dean Winchester, Professor!Cas, dcminibang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-29
Updated: 2015-11-29
Packaged: 2018-05-03 17:53:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5301053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tellthenight/pseuds/tellthenight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean's daughter Emma finds out her mother will not be coming to see her for Christmas and Cas tries his best to help her through by baking cookies with her.</p><p>This fic was written for the destiel christmas minibang.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cookie Therapy

**Author's Note:**

> The stories in this series are not affiliated in any way aside from all being written for the destiel Christmas minibang.

“What happened?” Cas asked as he hung his coat and scarf.

 

Emma cried harder at his question and Dean squeezed her tight into his shoulder. He looked up at Cas. “Lydia isn’t going to be back in time for Christmas.”

 

“Oh.” Cas sat in the chair opposite Dean and his daughter. In the two years he’d been with Dean Lydia had mostly managed to be around once a month or so, but since he and Dean had gotten married over the summer she’d only been there to visit once. She always blamed it on her job, but over alcohol Dean blamed it on her sheer lack of interest in Emma.

 

“What can I do?” Cas asked.

 

Emma sat up, face bitter and hurt. “You can move out! She came home when you weren’t here-”

 

“Emma.” Dean barked and she flipped her anger to him.

 

“You too! She doesn’t like you either!” Emma jumped up and ran up the stairs, the sound of her feet on the wood followed closely by the slamming of the door.

 

Dean leaned forward with a sigh and buried his head in his hands. Cas took over Emma’s place on the couch and put an arm around his husband.

 

“She’s twelve. And her mother doesn’t want to be with her. Again.”

 

“I know.” Dean wiped his hands down his face and glanced over at Cas. “Doesn’t mean I like when she yells at us like that. Especially you. You don’t deserve-”

 

“I know it’s not about me,” Cas said, rubbing his back. “You want to go up there? Or I can try.”

 

“Nah. Let her be upset about it for awhile. It’s just shitty. Like she can’t show up for just…” Dean’s voice failed him and his head fell back into his hands. Cas leaned down with him and Dean turned to let Cas hold him. He sniffed and pulled himself together against Cas’s shoulder. “Emma just wanted Christmas with her. One day. One fucking day.”

 

“I know. I’m sorry.”

 

“And see, you shouldn’t be the one saying it.” Dean mumbled against him.

 

“Where is Lydia now?”

 

“West coast somewhere. I don’t know. I don’t know if she knows.”

 

“Does she need a way to get here? We can take care of her plane tickets.”

 

“Cas,” Dean looked up at him with those bright green eyes highlighted by tears he wouldn’t let fall and Cas’s heart broke a little more. “She could be here if she wanted to be, but she doesn’t want to be here for Em,” Dean said. “It’s as simple as that.”

 

Cas cupped his cheek and kissed him lightly then leaned so that their foreheads met. “Emma knows we love her. Lydia’s actions speak for her and when Emma is a little older she’ll see that. She will see what you’ve done for her her whole life.”

 

Dean stiffened and sat up. Cas watched as frustration and anger rolled through him, landing in a tensed muscle in his jaw as he gritted his teeth against the situation.

 

“Every time she does this Emma gets ripped to shreds,” Dean finally said. “I can’t let Lydia do this to her anymore. I-I’m going to call her back. She can’t treat Emma this way and-”

 

“Don’t. Dean, don’t call her. Let everything cool down and maybe in a few days you can have that conversation with her.”

 

Dean blinked rapidly and sniffed. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

 

“Emma needs you to keep this all calm,” Cas said. The last time Dean had lectured Lydia they didn’t see her for three months.

 

Dean nodded his head eyes focused on a mystery spot in the center of the room.

 

“Let’s do something special with Em this weekend,” Cas said.

 

“Okay,” Dean mumbled and turned back to Cas. Cas held him tight, kissing his temple before he spoke again.

 

“Want to make dinner with me?”

 

***

 

In spite of staying up late to grade papers Cas woke early the next morning as he did most days. As he got older his body wouldn’t let him sleep in. He popped awake with the sun while Dean would snuggle in even deeper and Cas would seethe in jealousy.

 

Coffee was the first order of the day and once that was going he rinsed the plate and cup Emma must have left on the counter. She had stayed in her room the rest of the night, so he and Dean ate dinner together and watched t.v. together while Cas graded and Dean hoped his daughter would come downstairs to talk. Cas was the one that took her a plate of food, but he barely saw her face when she opened the door to accept and closed it again in less than five seconds.

 

Cas put her dishes in the dishwasher and poured his coffee before he sat at the table with his tablet to look for things to do with Emma that afternoon. Ice skating, there was a new movie out she probably wanted to see-

 

She was trying to be quiet but Cas heard her anyway and turned with a smile. “Hey Emma.”

 

“Hi,” she said softly. She padded to the pantry for her favorite oatmeal and went about her business preparing it to her liking. Cas pretended to keep reading to give her some semblance of privacy, but looked up when she joined him at the table.

 

“Thank you for bringing your dishes down from dinner.”

  
Emma nodded, but her eyes were on her oatmeal. She ate one slow hot spoonful at a time and Cas pretended again to keep reading. If he brought it up she would probably run off again, but if he waited for her to say something they might actually get a chance to talk. He finished his coffee and went for a second cup when he had an idea.

 

Cas started pulling everything out of the pantry. Flour, sugar, baking soda- everything they would need. They happened to have a package of chocolate chips and some food coloring left over from some previous project.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

Cas smiled to himself. “I don’t really want to grade today so I thought I might make cookies.”

 

“Oh,” Emma said. Cas could hear her behind him, running the sink to rinse her bowl out. The door of the dishwasher clicked open, then a low clatter as she put it in and another click that it was closed.

 

“Thank you,” Cas said and continued his plan. He pulled out a recipe book dedicated to baking and started a preliminary search.

 

“Can I pick a kind?” Emma asked.

 

“Of course. Pick a few. We can make a few batches of different kinds as long as we have the ingredients.”

 

Emma joined him at his side, both of them leaning against the counter looking at the book. Cas turned the pages slowly so they could both see all their options, and after several minutes they decided to start with sugar cookies (so they could cool enough for icing), chocolate chip, and peanut butter. Emma had a few more ideas, but Cas insisted they start with those three and then they’d see what time it was when they were finished.

 

Emma took charge of the sugar cookies, collecting ingredients and mixing things together. Cas let her do as much as he could, and after a few minutes it was obvious Emma was able to take care of the entire process from start to finish. Cas stood back, taking on the role of assistant. He passed her the right ingredients and cleaned up after her. She cut out the shapes and put them all on the baking sheet and into the oven herself while Cas took care of the scrap dough and flour that went on the floor.

 

With the first batch in they got started mixing the second. Emma put Cas in charge of watching the oven and he gladly attended to that work.

 

“What’s going on in here?” Dean yawned and stretched as he came into the kitchen.

 

“We’re making Christmas Cookies.” Emma chirped and Dean looked at Cas, surprise written all over his face. The change in Emma’s attitude was shocking and he kissed Cas, whispering a thank you against his skin after.

 

Cas smiled to himself and went back to his oven watching duties in time to pull out the third and fourth trays of sugar cookies to come out. Emma put in the chocolate chip cookies while Cas deposited sugar cookies to cool on the kitchen table.

 

“So when do I get to try these out?” Dean hovered over the first batch of sugar cookies and Emma smacked him on the arm.

 

“Don’t eat them! I have to ice them first,” she said and Dean pulled her into a hug. He kissed the top of her head and tilted her head up to face him.

 

“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” he said

 

Emma shrugged and looked away from her father.

 

“Em, I just- I-”

 

“It’s okay, dad. It’s not your fault.” She said it quietly and squeezed him around the waist. Dean took her hug with eyes closed. Her hugs were getting fewer and fewer these days, so he had to take them whenever she offered.

 

She pulled back when her cell buzzed in her pocket. It took her a moment to assess the text, but her face lit up. “It’s Krissy. She wants to know if I can go ice skating with her in a little bit. They’ll pick me up.”

 

Dean looked at Cas, who shrugged, and then back to Emma. “That’s fine. We’ll clean up here.”

 

Emma jumped with excitement and kissed Dean’s cheek before she ran over to Cas and hugged him too. “Sorry, Cas. We can finish the cookies later, right?”

 

“Yes. Go have fun, Em.” Cas smiled at her and she ran upstairs to her room. He turned back to the counter to start cleaning up and a moment later felt Dean behind him, then arms wrapped around his waist and a chin hooked over his shoulder.

 

“Did you work some kind of spell on her to get her back to normal?”

 

Cas laughed. “No spells. She was mostly okay when she came down for breakfast, but cookies certainly helped.”

 

“Cookies always help,” Dean said and kissed Cas’s neck lightly. Cas turned in his arms and kissed him more fully.

 

“What was that for?” Dean said.

 

Cas shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m just- I’m glad I have you and Emma.”

 

“Just in time to tackle this teenager thing together.”

 

Cas laughed. “Well, that might not always be great, but yeah. We’ll get through it together.”

 

Dean pulled him in at the waist and kissed him again before hooking an arm around his neck and hugging him tight. “We need you, Cas. I mean I love you and Emma loves you, but we really need you.”

 

Cas spread his hand over Dean’s back and returned the tight embrace. He needed them just as much. He leaned back far enough to look into Dean’s bright green eyes. “Do you know how much I need you too? You and Emma have been nothing but good in my life. I just hope someday Emma understands how much I love her.”

 

Cas blinked back tears and Dean rubbed his arm and smiled faintly, his face a little sadder now. “I think she knows that, Cas.”

 

“Yeah, I know that, Cas.”

 

They both turned to see Emma in the doorway with her jacket on, but her face streaked with tears.

 

“Em-” Cas started as he turned to her, but she was faster and ran to hug him. Cas clutched her tight against him. Her body shook as she cried and he rubbed her back as if he could soothe it all away.

 

“I’m sorry I was mean,” Emma said. “I was just mad and- I said mean things. I love you and I want you to always be here. Please don’t go.”

 

Cas met Dean’s eyes over her head, surprise registering with both of them that she would even think he would leave..

 

“Emma, I’m never going anywhere,” Cas said. “I belong here with you and your dad. That’s why I married him.”

 

Emma hiccupped in the middle of her sobs and started to laugh and cry at the same time. Dean joined their hug too and ultimately Emma turned to him. Dean held her head against his chest and looked at Cas. Both of them were fighting off tears, and Dean was doing the better job.

 

The doorbell rang and Cas went to get it. Krissy was bright eyed and excited for ice skating. “Emma, Krissy’s ready!” he called.

 

Emma appeared in the hall, her eyes still red, but most of the other tearful evidence gone. She smiled big at Cas and hugged him tight again.

  
“Thank you,” she said, and she was off with Krissy.

**Author's Note:**

> There is accompanying artwork for this fic created by riddleblack246! You can view the artwork [here](http://riddleblack246.tumblr.com/post/134209263003/cookie-therapy-read-here-on-ao3-for) or in [the original tumblr post](http://captainawesomeellie.tumblr.com/post/134208363861/cookie-therapy) for the fic.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate your comments.
> 
> You can find me and my writing at captainawesomeellie.tumblr.com


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